This affordable tin foil cleaning trick is a simple way to tackle stubborn oven door stains

If you're anything like us, it’s likely that your oven got a lot of use over the Christmas period - whether you were the one responsible for cooking up the all-important 25th December feast, or you simply enjoyed lots of other tasty meals over the festive period.

Learning how to clean an oven isn't difficult, but our ovens can be tricky and time-consuming appliances to clean; not only are they large and bulky, but they often have stubborn, stuck-on food stains all over them.

But thankfully, there’s an easy trick you can use to clean one of the dirtiest areas of all – your oven door – with just a few simple tools you’re likely to have to hand at home already.

The tin foil oven door cleaning hack

Cleaning an oven door can be a particularly difficult part of the appliance to tackle. Firstly, they need to be treated gently, given that the door is on a hinge. They can often be the part of the oven that is neglected for the longest time, given that an oven can still function well even if the door is dirty.

But before you go out and buy pricey speciality oven cleaners, it’s worth mentioning that we have recently discovered a hack for cleaning an oven door with foil.

If you're wondering how to clean an oven quickly and affordably, this trick involves using tin foil, screwed up into a ball, in order to clean the oven door. 

For this cleaning trick, all you need to do is pour a small amount of hot water over your open oven door (make sure it isn’t boiling!). Cleaning expert at MyJobQuote, Sarah Dempsey says, 'It’s a good idea to put an old towel or some newspapers on the floor directly underneath the oven door, to protect the floor before you begin.'

Then, sprinkle over one of our favourite natural cleaning products, baking soda, to create a kind of paste across your oven door. 'If there is a thick layer of grease and grime on the inside of the oven door you may want to let the baking soda and water sit for a few minutes to soften the build-up,' Sarah explains.

All you then need to do is gently begin scrubbing the door with your ball of tin foil, to remove all the stuck-on food, grease and grime. After a minute or so of gentle cleaning, you should be left with an oven door that is dirt-free.

Sarah says, 'You shouldn’t have to apply much pressure, as the combination of the paste and the abrasion of the tin foil is enough to lift the baked-on grease.'

Once the door is fully clean, wipe off the remaining residue with a damp microfibre cloth, and dry with another microfibre cloth. It couldn’t be simpler!

'This method of cleaning will work on lightly coated oven doors or those that have been neglected for a while,' Sarah told us. 'The only difference may be that a more encrusted oven door will take a bit longer to clean and may require more work.

'If the grease is heavily burnt on you may need to repeat the process to remove all traces.'

And never fear – this cleaning method is completely safe too, even if you oven door feels a little more fragile than the rest of the appliance.

'The glass used on oven doors is tempered. This means that it is a safety glass that has been treated to withstand high temperatures and is stronger than normal glass. Using tin foil to clean the glass oven door will not damage it and won’t scratch the surface.'

So will you be trying out this time-saving hack?